UConn’s Katie Lou Samuelson, left, is expected to be back on the court for Sunday’s meeting with No. 3 Notre Dame.

UConn’s Katie Lou Samuelson, left, is expected to be back on the court for Sunday’s meeting with No. 3 Notre Dame.

Photo: Jessica Hill / Associated Press

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UConn women showed they’re up to the challenge against Irish

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HARTFORD — When Azurá Stevens hit a pair of baskets early in the second quarter of the highly-anticipated showdown between UConn and Notre Dame on Sunday, the naysayers were ready to unleash a collective yawn as the mighty Huskies were on the verge of blowing out another national championship contender.

However, No. 3 Notre Dame did not make the trip to the XL Center for the annual Jimmy V Classic game to simply go away quietly as so many highly-touted teams have done in recent years.

Marina Mabrey, Arike Ogunbowale and Jessica Shepard helped the Fighting Irish build a double-digit lead and push the Huskies to the brink of a rare home loss.

Instead, UConn brought the sold-out XL Center crowd to their feet with a spirited fourth-quarter blitz as the Huskies rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to win 80-71.

Playing without All-Americans Gabby Williams and Katie Lou Samuelson for large portions of the game due to Williams’ issues with migraine headaches and Samuelson’s injured ankle, Stevens led the way offensively with 10 of her 17 points in the final quarter. All-American Napheesa Collier and freshman Megan Walker combined for 10 rebounds, including more than a few of the rough and tumble variety. Defensively the Huskies saved their best for last.

“I wish we would have played the whole game the way we did in the fourth quarter but it was great for the fans,” Collier said.

Yes it was. UConn coach Geno Auriemma said the roars from the crowd reminded him of the “good old days.” That would be in the early 2000s when Tennessee and Rutgers would scrap with the Huskies for the entire 40 minutes.

More recently, the last time UConn trailed for more than half the game but came away with the victory was Feb. 2, 2013 when the Huskies rallied for a 71-65 win over St. John’s at Madison Square Garden.

UConn trailed for 25:19 against the Fighting Irish, the most in any game the Huskies won since trailing for 27:44 against Notre Dame in a 79-76 road victory on Jan. 8, 2011. Earlier that season, Baylor was up eight with 6:51 to play at the XL Center. The game was tied when Bria Hartley, a freshman playing in her second career game, hit a 3-pointer with 2:09 to play as UConn held on for the 65-64 victory.

In the 2010 NCAA title game, the Huskies were down eight points at halftime and rallied for a 53-47 win over Stanford and of course, the 2008 Maya Moore steal game at DePaul is at the top of any list when recalling memorable UConn comebacks. The Huskies trailed by 17 points with less than 151/2 minutes to go and it took Moore, then a freshman, racing from behind to come up with a steal to set the stage for Ketia Swanier’s coast-to-coast game-winning basket.

After Sunday’s win, Auriemma spoke of his team’s split personalities. Early in the game the Huskies gave up wide-open looks on the perimeter to Mabrey, even though limiting her 3-point opportunities certainly was pretty high up on the coaching staff’s scouting report. Also, after surrendering a couple of wide-open layups on inbounds passes, Auriemma said he was praying that Notre Dame wouldn’t be allowed to inbounds the ball underneath their own basket again.

A season ago Shepard was 1 for 13 from the field with five turnovers against UConn when she was at Nebraska. In the early stages on Sunday, she had open layups on seemingly every possession.

“We didn’t like the way we played as a team or as individuals,” Samuelson said. “We didn’t feel like we played the right way, we didn’t feel like we played and represented Connecticut basketball the right way so coming out in the third quarter, we were going to fight and do the best we could. Clearly it paid off and especially in that fourth quarter people stepped up.”

So often the Huskies simply run teams off the court, so it was an eye-opening experience for players, coaches and fans to see them have to fight their way to a hard-earned victory against a Final Four caliber opponent.

“There was one timeout when we were down eight and we just let them know that in two possessions this could be a two-point game and eight points is nothing,” Auriemma said. “I thought when we took the lead, I thought there was a change in the temperature of the game, you could see it. That comeback, we looked different, we acted different and so did they when we took the lead.”

CAMARA STILL SIDELINED

During the recent trip out west, it looked as if sophomore forward Batouly Camara would return to the court before Samuelson. Camara took part in warmups before the games, but the Kentucky transfer is still sidelined. Auriemma isn’t quite sure when she will make her UConn debut as she continues to work her way back from a knee injury she suffered in the preseason.

“It is not as 100 percent as she wants it to be, so I think she is a little bit tentative and a little bit cautious and her game is built on activity,” Auriemma said.

UConn plays at DePaul on Friday but then will have a week and a half before the next game. That extra time could possibly allow Camara to be recovered enough to see her first regular-season action for UConn.

More on the availability of Samuelson and Williams for the DePaul game should be known after Wednesday’s practice.